The present invention relates to fishing lures and, more particularly, to life-like fishing lures including a nylon hair strand tail.
In designing a fishing lure, it is desirable for the lure to simulate a live bait fish in appearance and swimming action. There currently exists numerous fishing lures with a body separated into at least two parts connected by a joint, enabling the parts of the body to pivot relative to each other. The construction of these lures, however, produces only a moderate imitation of the natural side-to-side swimming action of a live bait fish, and without proper weighting, conventional lures tend to lay on their side or turn over in the water.
Additionally, it has been difficult to develop proper and effective simulations of a fish tail for the lure, and tails in conventional lures are typically replaced with a hook or a plastic tail simulation. Because a live fish relies on its tail for propulsion and direction control, it has been discovered that the tail becomes an important component to simulating life-like swimming action of the lure as well as an integral component for simulating the appearance of a fish.
There is thus a need for a fishing lure that better simulates the appearance and swimming action of bait fish. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an articulated fishing lure is provided with a simulated tail that is formed with a combination of nylon strands with glittery strands and buck tail, which not only greatly improve the simulated appearance of the fishing lure, but also effect a natural swimming action by the lure.
Thus, according to the invention, there is provided a method of constructing a fishing lure including a tail slot. The method includes the steps of providing a plurality of nylon strands, binding an insert end of the strands, shaping the bound insert ends to fit in the tail slot, trimming a flared end of the strands, opposite from the insert end, into a desired shape, and affixing the bound insert end in the tail slot. Discontinuity strands such as glitter strands and buck tail may be added to the strand bundle to provide a desired appearance. The binding step may be practiced by melting the insert ends of the strands together or by clipping the strands with a binding clip. Shaping of the bound insert end to fit in the tail slot can be performed by one of trimming or sanding or both to achieve a desired shape. The bound insert end is preferably affixed in the tail slot by gluing.
In preferred forms, the insert end of the strands is pinched using a tool or the like thereby flaring the flared ends of the strands. The strands adjacent the pinched insert ends are grasped, and the pinched insert end can then be released. In this manner, the insert end of the strands can be readily bound using a cigarette lighter, match, heated plate, solder gun or the like.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a fishing lure including a body resembling a fish with a tail slot at an end thereof and a tail affixed in the tail slot. The tail includes a plurality of strands of nylon, wherein an insert end of the strands is bound and shaped to fit in the tail slot, and wherein a flared end of the strands, opposite from the insert end, is formed into a desired shape.
In accordance with still another aspect of the invention, there is provided a tail for a fish-shaped fishing lure that includes a plurality of nylon strands. The insert ends of the strands are bound and shaped to engage the fishing lure, and flared ends of the strands, opposite from the insert ends, are formed into a desired shape.